Thanks, Rodi. Actually, choir was pretty exciting tonight. We had our normal complement of 5 tenors, but only 1 of the altos was willing to brave the weather, so I moved sections and sang alto tonight.

You must have quite a range.

__________________

__________________
Retired June 2014. No longer an enginerd - now I'm just a nerd.

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Our snow has been very dry. This morning when I was driving the plow truck in to town a breeze came up and blew the snow off the branches of the pine trees. I couldn't see a thing! It sure was neat to watch when you weren't in the middle of it. I stopped at the mechanics because the edge of the fan belt he had just put on separated yesterday morning. By the time I got back to the mechanic's so he could put another belt on, the truck had no brakes! So I hung around while he put new brakes on the front (leaking caliper). Its nice to be on first name basis with your mechanic.

Made PB&J sandwiches with a group that puts together sack lunches for women at a seasonal homeless shelter. We put together 150+ meals for Wednesday night. There are other groups that do something for other nights.

I can sing from A3 to C5 in natural voice. The pieces tonight all had the alto line in the lower part of their range, so it was possible for me to sing them.

Wow, very impressive. Also that you had more tenors than altos - don't think I've ever been in a choir where the altos were outnumbered. More often some of the lower alto voices help out the tenors.

__________________
"One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute." William Feather
----------------------------------
ER'd Oct. 2010 at 53. Life is good.

DW and I went to a Barry Manilow performance last night. We both enjoyed it. His voice was a bit off in the first 10 minutes or so but then got progressively better. He covered most of his hits from years gone by and one of the cuts off his Dream Duets album that has been nominated for a Grammy (a duet with Judy Garland a la the duet Natalie Cole did with Nat King Cole). Closed out with I Write the Songs and Copacabana. Quite a performance given he is 72 years old.

DW and I went to a Barry Manilow performance last night. We both enjoyed it. His voice was a bit off in the first 10 minutes or so but then got progressively better. He covered most of his hits from years gone by and one of the cuts off his Dream Duets album that has been nominated for a Grammy (a duet with Judy Garland a la the duet Natalie Cole did with Nat King Cole). Closed out with I Write the Songs and Copacabana. Quite a performance given he is 72 years old.

Loretta Lynn still performs at 84! Who says you have to slow down as you age?

I am currently in Costa Rica attending a Spanish immersion program, something I've long wanted to do. Yesterday I walked to school, spent fours in class, then headed to the hills for a hike in a rainforest. Stopped in at a mercado on the way home to grab some items for dinner and enjoyed them al fresco on my little apt balcony before heading indoors to work on my nightly homework assignments.

This is one of those times/experiences where I am more thankful then one could ever imagine to be ER'd.

Nice! Which school did you go to?

__________________
Well, I thought I was retired. But it seems that now I'm working as a travel agent instead!

DH and I went out for lunch today and on the way, saw something I'd never ever seen before - when stopped at a traffic light, the driver of the car next to us was brushing his teeth. Seriously! Looked a bit like this image I found on Google, except I don't think he was using an electric toothbrush.

__________________
"One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute." William Feather
----------------------------------
ER'd Oct. 2010 at 53. Life is good.

Yesterday we went to a foodie event at restaurants along the waterfront in Sausalito. It was a nice sunny day with pretty views of the bay and the city. The day before we went to a screening of Eddie the Eagle. I thought it was a cute movie. We both enjoyed it. Today we're catching up on chores, I have a Redbox movie reserved for tonight and I'm going to get one or two $5 Friday deals from Safeway for dinner.

__________________Even clouds seem bright and breezy, 'Cause the livin' is free and easy, See the rat race in a new way, Like you're wakin' up to a new day (Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether lyrics, Alan Parsons Project, based on an EA Poe story)

Finished remodeling the carpeted staircase into oak wood. This last step in removing the last bit of carpet in the home took me 1 week. Prepping the staircase including prying off all the steps to trim them off on a table saw was a heck of a lot of work. And carefully cutting all the pieces for everything to fit perfectly also takes a lot of time (when is the last time you see baseboard molding used on stairsteps?). I had to build myself an adjustable jig to measure each stairstep.

I can rest now, and my hands and fingers will be free of splinters for a while. I threw all the tools and debris out in the garage, and will spend tomorrow cleaning that up. Phew!

__________________"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that can happen to a man" -- Leo Tolstoy

Finished remodeling the carpeted staircase into oak wood. This last step in removing the last bit of carpet in the home took me 1 week. Prepping the staircase including prying off all the steps to trim them off on a table saw was a heck of a lot of work. And carefully cutting all the pieces for everything to fit perfectly also takes a lot of time (when is the last time you see baseboard molding used on stairsteps?). I had to build myself an adjustable jig to measure each stairstep.

I can rest now, and my hands and fingers will be free of splinters for a while. I threw all the tools and debris out in the garage, and will spend tomorrow cleaning that up. Phew!

DH and I went out for lunch today and on the way, saw something I'd never ever seen before - when stopped at a traffic light, the driver of the car next to us was brushing his teeth. Seriously! Looked a bit like this image I found on Google, except I don't think he was using an electric toothbrush.

I had a crappy commute with lots of traffic. I saw teeth brushing, shaving (electric razer), putting on makeup, eating cereal from a bowl, and my personal fav - doing a crossword puzzle from the morning paper.

The same people every day.

__________________
Retired June 2014. No longer an enginerd - now I'm just a nerd.

Just now, I noticed that the moldings on the stair landing that I reused are darker than the new stairsteps which are natural-color oak. In daylight, the moldings which match the rest of the existing stained doors and trims throughout the house did not look so dark. Hmmm... Should I ignore this color mismatch?

__________________"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that can happen to a man" -- Leo Tolstoy

I had a crappy commute with lots of traffic. I saw teeth brushing, shaving (electric razer), putting on makeup, eating cereal from a bowl, and my personal fav - doing a crossword puzzle from the morning paper.

Latest Threads

Social Knowledge Community

About Us

This community was started in 2002 as an alternative to a then fee only Motley Fool. The focus of the discussions is on topics related to early retirement and financial independence. The community is moderated to ensure a pleasant experience for our members.